Joint Optimization of Cluster Formation and Power Control for Interference-Limited Machine-to-Machine Communications

Clustered communication has been considered as one key technology for supporting Machine-To-Machine (M2M) wireless networks with a large number of communicating devices. Unlike related work that focuses on clustering with simple or no wireless interference model at the physical layer, in this paper the authors investigate the optimization problem of cluster formation and power control for interference-limited M2M communications. They consider a scenario where machines that form in clusters are allowed to reuse the spectrum occupied by human devices through proper transmission power control. To maximize the number of machines that can communicate while meeting the data rate constraints of human devices and machines themselves, they formulate a Mixed-Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) problem.